


Unwelcome Visitor

by Bexxx



Series: Stories involving Lendri [4]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-14 01:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1247932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bexxx/pseuds/Bexxx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The return of an old friend puts Lendri and Teldryn on shaky ground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

"The Reach? You're sure."

"That's where the book says. Red Eagle Redoubt. Whatever a redoubt is. You know, it sounds like what you feel when you're doing something that you already know is stupid. You redoubt yourself."

Teldryn leaned over the Bosmer's shoulder to look at what he was reading, glancing over the description of the location. "It's a word for a kind of outpost. A sort of stunted castle, if I remember correctly. Besides, it's not really possible to travel to a state of mind."

"Not really possible? Clearly you have not spent enough time experimenting with mind altering substances."

"Whatever it is, it should be an interesting venture. About time we headed out somewhere. It's nice having a place to call home, but a week of domesticity is more than enough at this time of year." It was the height of Skyrim's bright, perpetually windy summer. Lendri tossed the book in the general direction of his traveling pack.

"In the interest of accuracy, it was more like four days, because the first day was mostly lovemaking, the next was mostly sleep and the third was mostly trading."

Teldryn paused and thought about this for a second. 

"Semantics," he decided, as he put on his cloak. "Maybe you should start some healing potions brewing if you want to set out by tomorrow. I'm going to the general store. We'll likely need some rope."

Lendri grinned. Rope held infinite possibilities. "Oh? What for?"

Teldryn wasn't facing him, already heading out the door, and suggestion behind the smile flew right over his head. "The Reach is a mountainous place, or at least that's what I've heard. Can't hurt to be prepared. I won't be long."

The door shut. Lendri frowned, a little disappointed, but set about starting the potions. There was still clean water in the bucket by the pantry. He poured it into the pot and added some flowers and mushrooms. Soon a faintly sweet smell filled the small house. He thought maybe he'd visit the Thieves Guild, see what Brynjolf was up to, but the thieves mostly slept during the day. Besides, he didn't really feel like putting on anything more than breeches. He sat in reasonably content silence for a while before the door opened and booted footfalls sounded behind him. Lendri didn't look round.

"Hey, you're back. Be a love and throw me a bunch of blue mountain flowers from the shelf, would you? The potion's not turning red."

"Pick your own flowers, wood elf." The voice had a distinct Nordic accent.

Lendri jumped up, shocked, and turned around. He shrunk back against the wall. The man was massive, nearly as tall as an Altmer, and heavily scarred. He was muscular and wore little more than a white bear pelt across his shoulders, heavy boots, and a fur loincloth. He had a huge blonde mane of hair and a beard to match, while half of his face had been tattooed with swirling blue patterns.

"Oh Gods, do you _ever_ have the wrong house," Lendri said, after they'd stared at one another a moment.

"I heard Teldryn lived here. Teldryn Sero. Do you know him."

He's looking for Teldryn? That can't be good. He looks like a murderer. (Is that why Teldryn always used to keep his face covered? To hide from him?) Well. I'll put an end to this. 

"Teldryn is dead. I hung him and commandeered his house."

_"You_ killed Teldryn?"

"I garroted him, yes, with a bit of razor wire while he was unaware," said Lendri. "So it wasn't a proper hanging but at least you don't have to--ah!"

The Nord had him by the throat with one massive hand, lifting him up and pressing him against the wall. "You little rat. Teldryn was worth ten men like you. How dare you not even give him the honor of a death in combat!"

By this time Lendri had realized his hasty assumption had been wrong, but he could barely breath, let alone speak. He kicked at the man's chest and clawed at his arm but the Nord payed no mind, choking him, drawing a bone knife from the sheath at his belt. It was beautifully carved, Lendri noted for some reason, and wondered vaguely if it was a mammoth bone.  
The door opened then, and the Nord looked back in time to see Teldryn enter the house, looking very much alive. Confused, he let go of his quarry. Lendri's knees folded under him and he remained at the Nord's feet, gasping and looking somewhat pathetic.

The Nord seemed to have forgotten all about him. "Teldryn?"

Teldryn stood stunned and horrified in the door. The coil of rope fell from his hand and slithered to the floor. "...Dagvald? Azura's mercy, what're you--what've you done? Lendri! Are you alright?"

"I'm pissed off is what I am," Lendri said, getting to his feet."This lunatic is a friend of yours?"

"I only attacked you because you said you killed Teldryn with a wire," Dagvald interrupted, sheathing his knife.

"Well, I lied, okay?"

"I would never usually attack an opponent so unequally matched to myself. Especially not in cold blood."

"Oh, I'll show you unequal you idiotic--"

"Wait," Teldryn interrupted. "Dagvald. You're alive."

"No thanks to you. But in spite of your cowardice, I got word you were living in Riften and...I had to see how you're doing. For old time's sake. But I come in--"

"Without sodding knocking!" Lendri interjected.

"--And this crazy little elf lies that he killed you and 'commandeered' the house."

"I am _not_ crazy."

Teldryn shut the door, which had been standing open, and sat down at the table. "Arguing like this is getting nowhere. Lendri, I think there's some things you should know."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's discuss this over lunch."

"Fine." Suddenly Lendri felt uncertain. Dagvald was visiting for 'Old times sake'... what was that supposed to mean? Teldryn lifted a hand to him as he passed the table, to reassure or comfort, but he leaned away from the touch, moody, arms folded. He went into the bedroom and put on a light green tunic. He tied up his hair and went to take his place at the table. Teldryn had put out some bread and dried meat, and was sitting, Lendri noted with resentment, next to Dagvald.

He took the place opposite to them, feeling abandoned, and ignored the food. "So what am I supposed to know? Let's hear it."

"Remember when I told you about my last patron?"

"The one who dragged you across the tundra for days and then expected you to kill yourself?"

"I didn't put it like that, but in short, yes," Teldryn said, exasperated, ignoring Dagvald's pointed glare. "This is him. His name is Dagvald."

"I heard." Lendri didn't introduce himself. This wasn't some damn social call. After a moment Teldryn sighed and said,

"Dagvald, this is Lendri."

"Lendri, is it? Doesn't that mean 'pointy'?" Dagvald looked him over and almost cracked a smile. "So you're named for your ears, or your personality?"

"It means 'bite' actually," Lendri said sullenly, "Like the bite of a strong drink or a hot spice. But you can just call me Lendriniel, which means nothing, because only people I like call me Lendri."

"I wish you'd at least try not to make this more difficult," Teldryn said.

"Get on with it. What's so important about this person? You said you only stayed with him because the pay was good."

Teldryn was avoiding Dagvald's glare again, and Lendri found this unsettling. It was probably the first time he'd seen Teldryn intimidated by anyone. "When I told you about him, we'd only recently met. I wasn't about to tell you all about my personal life. And after that there was no reason to bring it up. I thought he'd been killed. It was a bad memory I was trying to put behind me."

"But he's not dead...Or is he?" Lendri leaned far across the table, inspecting Dagvald for signs of decay. This close he could smell sweat and musk, but no rot, and the man's skin was marked only by scars. No worms crawled in his beard. "Well, you seem alive."

"You seem disappointed. And stupid."

Lendri sat back. "Well, I am, a little bit. Disappointed, I mean, because if you were dead, me and Teldryn could just bury you and go back to being happy. I mean, we could still bury you now, but it would be more difficult to go back to being happy knowing you'd have to spend the rest of your days in a tiny crypt with us lowering provisions to you in a bucket, and maybe a book or two if we're feeling generous."

Dagvald looked at Teldryn in disbelief, but the Dunmer didn't seem fazed. "Now that you're sure he's alive, listen to what I have to say without interrupting. Dagvald and I traveled together for several months before the bandit incident, and in that time we became...close. I never thought I'd see him again."

So you make a hobby of falling for the people who hire you? Lendri thought, cringing at his own nastiness.

"I don't know why you left me in the first place," Dagvald cut in. "Especially not there. Not like that."

Teldryn frowned down at the table. "That was one thing you couldn't make me do, Dagvald. I do value my own life, you know."

Dagvald reached over and took Teldryn's chin in his hand, turning the Dunmer's face toward him. "Have you decided never to look at me again? Are the scars really that hard on the eyes?" His tone was that of a harsh jest, but there was something else behind it--anger and sadness.

Teldryn blinked. He put a hand on Dagvald's wrist but hesitated before pushing it aside. "Leaving you there wasn't easy. I'm sorry you suffered. But charging that camp was a bad idea, plain and simple."

"But I survived, didn't I?"

"How?"

"They were almost all of them falling down drunk."

Teldryn laughed incredulously. "Think of that. Drunk. Fate is strange." And he looked across the table at Lendri with an expression the Bosmer couldn't read. He almost looked wistful. Dagvald followed his gaze, but he looked aggrieved.

"Why him and not me?" He said, and all his fierceness couldn't hide the loss in his voice.

"Dagvald. I thought you were dead. It was nearly a year later that I first began traveling with him and months before I began to feel anything more than friendship. I never would have left you for him if we'd still been together..."

So I'm just some tawdry stand-in for Dagvald, Lendri thought. I wonder how long it's been this way? Suddenly he didn't want to be in the room with either of them, and he stood up from the table. "I'm leaving."

"Gods, Lendri, I'm sorry, that...it came out all wrong. We can talk about this. Don't leave me."

"I'm leaving _the house,_ not you." No matter how things stood between Teldryn and himself, it was clear watching him talk things out with Dagvald would be painful. 

Talking to someone in the Guild was beginning to look like a much better way to spend the afternoon. "You need to speak a lot of words to him that will be easier to say without me there to hear them."

"Wait, Lendri--"

"What should I wait for? I know now that you used to love him, and never would've looked in my direction if you'd been together when we met. Now you just have to decide what you want to do now that he's back from the dead."

"If it's any consolation, I would have at least _looked_." Teldryn was almost teasing, hoping to make him smile. Lendri ignored him.

"Listen." Lendri switched to Dunmeri, because this wasn't something Dagvald needed to hear. "Do what will make you happy. If you leave, I'll heal. But it wouldn't be right to ask you to stay when you always want to be gone."

Teldryn was speechless, and before he could make an answer Lendri went out the door, because he didn't want anything more to do with the situation.


	2. 2

"So they're old lovers," Delvin said.

Lendri shook his head. "Gods, don't make me say it again. Yes."

"And you left them alone there, in the house," continued Niruin, raising a thin red eyebrow.

"And they haven't seen each other in ages." Delvin added.

"They're going to--" Niruin began, but Lendri cut him off.

"That's not what bothers me. What do I care who he takes to bed? What worries me is that he actually feels something for that man."

Niruin looked at him pityingly. "If love can be said to be a disease--and it can, I assure you--then you, my friend, are sick to death. You usually show a little more spirit."

Vexx was sitting at the other end of the table, and Ravyn was sitting next to her, cleaning his set of lockpicks and sneaking looks at her chest while pretending not to be interested in the goings on. Dirge hovered nearby. Though Lendri had started out just talking to Delvin and Niruin, it was beginning to feel like half the damn guild had wandered into the conversation. 

"For once, I agree with Niruin," Vexx said. "You need to stand up for yourself."

"Stand up to what? Dagvald? That man was choking me with _one hand_. I can't exactly beat him in a brawl. Maybe bashing him over the head with a shovel or a pick would work," Lendri said, looking pensive. "It's always worked in the past."

"In the past, eh," said Ravyn, looking up with a fiendish grin. "Now, you never said you had this brutal side."

"That's not at all what I meant," Niruin said, raising both eyebrows this time.

"No," Lendri admitted. "He's not done anything really wrong. I've never killed anyone just because they were...inconvenient."

"Well, this is one of those things there shouldn't be a first time for," Niruin said. "Really, no murdering. I meant, don't feel like you have to let Teldryn do whatever he wants, and tread all over your feelings and self respect, just because you're a couple. Do that and you'll find yourself left not with a companion, but with a boarder who pays you nothing and manipulates you in the name of love. It goes nowhere good. Trust me, because I speak from bitter experience."

"Teldryn wouldn't do that though," Lendri said uneasily, looking to Delvin for reassurance, but the man was carving his initials into the table and didn't notice. Ravyn scoffed and Vexx smirked.

"Gods, listen to him! We all think our loves won't betray us. Then again, I don't know everything," Niruin said, relenting a bit. "Maybe Teldryn is really the saint you believe he is. But be careful."

"Yeah. We don't want to watch you get your 'eart broken," Delvin said, still intent on his carving.

"Just, if you need someone to teach him a lesson, you know where to find us," Dirge concluded.

Lendri looked at him with despondent skepticism. Well, it was the sentiment that counted. "...Right. Thanks."


	3. 3

The door shut with a finality that Teldryn hoped was all in his head, and he had to take a steadying breath before he returned to the table to face Dagvald again.

"What did he say?"

"That I should leave if it would make me happier than staying."

"But it wouldn't." The Nord sounded as if he already knew the answer.

Teldryn shook his head.

"I didn't think so." Dagvald sounded resigned. "We're like two sides of the same coin. And I, that is something I like! But not you. You want some happy, horizon chasing fool who will keep you above water when you sink into one of your glooms."

"We disagreed a lot, you and I. We would have made do, but it wouldn't have been easy. It's the stubbornness. Neither of us is willing to let things go. You never were. You aren't now."

"Not like _him_ , is what you're saying." Dagvald said, defensive, the moment of tenderness gone. He stood. "It matters not. I'll find someone braver, willing to accept the challenges leveled by glory and honor!"

Teldryn moved out of the way as the Nord made his way to the door. "Good luck. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Dagvald paused, laid a hand on his shoulder, then leaned in and kissed him, briefly. "You know I never listened to you, my surly elf."

And that was another problem altogether, Teldryn thought as he smiled and watched the man walking away down the docks. "Take care of yourself."

Dagvald waved and turned the corner, and Teldryn wasn't sure whether or not he hoped he'd see the man again. It was good to see him alive, at the very least. Dagvald's death had weighed on his conscience, a specter he'd thought would follow him to the grave. Lightheartedness wasn't really in his personality at the best of times, but he felt...more free. Happier, released from guilt. Now he just had to find Lendri.

*  
Teldryn never felt welcome in the Ragged Flagon. He thought of it as Lendri's territory, and even in love there were some places you didn't tread. The people treated him guardedly--it was clear they were only tolerating him because he was connected to one of their own. Last of all, he thought the name was stupid. Flagons didn't fray, they chipped. That detail irked him, probably a lot more than it should have.

The tavern was quiet when he entered. A few people clustered around one of the tables, talking quietly, watching a card game. Lendri was one of them, leaning against the wall, looking at the game in the abstracted way he looked at things when he was pretending to pay attention. A blonde woman at the edge of the group was the first to notice him. Lendri had told him their names at some point and he had mixed up most of them. He was pretty sure she was called Vekel the Man.

"Look what the cat dragged in," she said.

Lendri looked up hopefully. "Teldryn?"

"Try not to look so eager," said a Dunmer who was sitting at the table, disgustedly discarding one of his cards. "Gods, I don't know how you get by with so little self-respect."

"You're such a shitehawk, Ravyn," Lendri said, offhand, like the vitriol was normal. He moved around the table and met Teldryn halfway, out of earshot of the people at the table. "What happened to Dagvald?"

"He left. I didn't want to leave with him. Let's go home."

Teldryn didn't look back to see what the thieves thought, though the big Nord at the entrance muttered, 'Watch yourself."

They walked side by side without speaking until they emerged in the sun, leaving through the graveyard. Lendri took his hand as they stood among the tombstones. Teldryn raised the elf's fingers to his lips, briefly kissing the knuckles. He lifted an eyebrow to the questions in Lendri's eyes.

"Surprised? He argued a lot. We were in love, but...it wouldn't have lasted. He contradicted every word that came out of my mouth, nearly. It was amusing at first, but after a while it became infuriating."

"Well, I'm glad you're here. Things would have been a bit sad and boring without you. Especially going all the way to the Reach with no one to talk to."

"Speaking of which...the potion has probably boiled all the way down by now."

"Ah well. I think I must've started off wrong anyway. We'll be fine. We usually are."

"Indeed."


End file.
